Acute Care: Definition, Conditions & Hospital Services

Acute care is a term that refers to the brief, specialized medical treatment of patients suffering from a variety of serious conditions, or recovering from surgery.

Types

• Conditions that may require acute care include heart attack, heart failure, child birth, stroke, serious wounds, traumas and fractures, conditions that require surgery, and complications of neurological diseases.

Facility

• An acute care hospital is a hospital that provides inpatient and outpatient treatment for illnesses and injuries that require the type of highly specialized medical attention that cannot be provided elsewhere.

Features

• An acute care hospital typically features licensed nurses, medical specialists, therapists, and social workers that are available 24 hours a day. An acute care facility will also likely feature sophisticated, state of the art medical equipment, supplies and medications.

Treatment

• Acute care often refers to the immediate, emergency or intensive care of serious conditions. However, acute care also refers to outpatient treatment such as post-surgery follow up and the continued monitoring of recovery.

Time Frame

• Though some conditions that require acute care are treated quickly, other conditions may require long-term acute care. A long-term acute care hospital, or LTAC hospital, can provide continual monitoring, therapy, and rehabilitation for patients that require such care.